Tag Archives: wildflowers

We’re sitting here at Beals Point Campground on Folsom Lake, after driving north through Owen’s Valley, then over to Carson Valley, then across the Sierra’s again to warmer weather.

It’s all been gorgeous, but the weather turned bitter cold with nights into the low 20’s and wind gusting horrendously around the beautiful Carson Valley.

Planning on meeting up with our daughter who is in Sacramento on business, we decide to cross the Sierra summit before snow falls on the highway.

We miraculously find this uncrowded campground and enjoy a few days of if not drier, at least much warmer weather.

Lounging around an entire day, bundled up playing dice games, reading books, and sipping warm tea while the rain pours down and pounds the van, we are happy. We set the awning up to have a dry porch area, take shorts walks in rain gear, and enjoy Mother Nature.

The birds who stuffed this tree with winter rations are certainly prepared! Just like us, they must feel like they can never have too much food on hand…just in case.

After the storm, the days are sunny, warm and delightful.

We find wildflowers everywhere we hike.

When the weekend rolls around and the campground fills up, we drive a long and windy road to the other side of the lake, where the campground on that side, Peninsula campground, is just barely open. In fact no ranger ever comes around to collect and there is no way to pay. The camp host, the only other person here on our first day, and who only recently arrived himself, said not to worry about it. So we don’t. We have the entire campground to ourselves for the first day and a half, before a few other brave souls starting arriving.

These golden fields filled with blue Lupine and purple Vetch is what we look at here out the van door.

We finally go and meet up with daughter, and spend a few days in the city of Sacramento together, enjoying some good food, soft beds, and hot showers.

Fun is had by all, and refreshing as this is, still it’s good to be back in the van by lakeside again.

It’s really where we feel at home now.

We are here for another day, then will be heading back to Santa Cruz to finish preparing for her wedding.

I plan on being absent from this blog for awhile, and won’t be posting for at least a few weeks, while we change gears and celebrate in a different fashion, spend time with family, and oh yeah, learn how to use my new camera! (It’s a 7D markII) So many things to be excited about!

These photos and all previous photos on this blog have been taken with a really old Canon Rebel 2ti camera. It has been an awesome traveling camera, very lightweight and easy to tote around on hikes, and has taken it’s share of bumps and bruises, but it’s time, and now I’m really looking forward to playing around with this new camera, experimenting, and pushing my limits some.

This time we chose not to go to Mojave National Preserve. We’ve instead spent our time exploring some lesser known out of the way places.

Such as Owl Canyon.

This BLM campground was really nice, very uncrowded, and provided garbage cans, nice picnic tables, and shade awnings. The sites were quite spacious, and there was much to explore. With our senior pass, the price was $3.00 a night.

Most people come here for this wonderful hike up Owl Canyon.

We spent a couple of nights at Owl Canyon Campground, exploring some smaller canyons too.

Then we moved on south to Sawtooth Canyon, down in the Lucerne Valley. Much of this area is ATV territory…you can see the damage done to the fragile landscape everywhere.

Up until about five years ago, Sawtooth Canyon was also becoming a desolate wasteland from being mismanaged. The BLM finally stepped in and made it off limits to all ATV’s and all hunting. What a precious resource it is, and now mostly rock-climbers, wildflower watchers, and birders go there to enjoy the area, though you find remnants of broken glass and shotgun casings littered everywhere.

It actually made me proud of our government for taking a stand to save this treasure.

Some of the blooming wildflowers we encountered, hiking around here.

And a few of the feathered local residents entertaining us.

Leaving Sawtooth Canyon, we drove south through Joshua Tree National Monument. This area seemed really tired and very dry already, even though it’s only March. The repercussions of last year’s drought I assume.

We didn’t camp there. It felt a bit too claustrophobic with the sights right on top of each other and quite crowed, so instead we dry camped just south of the park, where we didn’t have to listen to noisy neighbors.

The break of dawn, and an early morning playtime for Pia in the desert…

Packing up, we decide to take a little jaunt down by the Salton Sea, to check out some birds for awhile.

On a stop for some coffee and gas, these handsome fellows we met charmed me into giving them a few pieces of my cracker.

I thought if I continued, he would soon be inside the van with us, coming along for the adventure!